Editing Engagement ring (section)

===Ancient times===
Although the ancient Egyptians are sometimes credited with inventing the engagement ring, and the ancient Greeks with adopting the tradition, the history of the engagement ring can only be reliably traced as far back as ancient Rome.<ref name="Toliver2003">{{cite book|last=Toliver|first=Wendy|title=The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Wedding Etiquette|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YvImGEVrAO8C&pg=PA19|access-date=6 November 2013|date=1 March 2003|publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.|isbn=978-0-8069-9389-8|pages=19–20}}</ref><ref name="PatrickThompson2009">{{cite book|last1=Patrick|first1=Bethanne Kelly|last2=Thompson|first2=John Milliken|title=An Uncommon History of Common Things|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bcaXzXPP8ooC&pg=PA81|access-date=6 November 2013|year=2009|publisher=National Geographic Books|isbn=978-1-4262-0420-3|page=81}}</ref><ref name="Inc.2008">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Ring |volume= 23 |last1= Middleton |first1= John Henry |last2= Smith |first2= Arthur Hamilton Smith | pages = 349&ndash;351 }}</ref><ref name="Hersch2010">{{cite book|last=Hersch|first=Karen K.|title=The Roman Wedding: Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TZEJQPjc4sIC&pg=PA41|access-date=6 November 2013|date=24 May 2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-12427-0|pages=41–42}}</ref><ref name="Slate">{{cite web |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/weddings/2007/06/diamonds_are_a_girls_worst_friend.html |title=Diamonds Are a Girl's Worst Friend |last=O'Rourke |first=Meghan |date=11 June 2007 |work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |access-date=7 April 2013}}</ref>

In many countries, engagement rings are placed on the ring finger of the left hand. At one time it was believed that this finger contained a vein (the [[vena amoris]]) that led to the heart. This idea was popularized by [[Henry Swinburne (lawyer)|Henry Swinburne]] in ''A treatise of Spousals, or Matrimonial Contracts'' (1686).<ref name="Kacirk1999">{{cite book|last=Kacirk|first=Jeffrey|title=Forgotten English|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Yo1MDLLTT0C&pg=PA190|access-date=6 November 2013|date=17 February 1999|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-688-16636-6|page=190}}</ref>  The story seems to have its origin in the ancient Roman book ''Attic Nights'' by [[Aulus Gellius]] quoting [[Apion]]'s ''Aegyptiacorum'', where the alleged vein was originally a ''nervus'' (a word that can be translated either as "nerve" or "sinew").<ref name="Holford-Strevens2003">{{cite book|last=Holford-Strevens|first=Leofranc|title=Aulus Gellius : An Antonine Scholar and Leofranc Holford-Strevenshis Achievement: An Antonine Scholar and his Achievement|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nXTWaXWlzSsC&pg=PA321|access-date=6 November 2013|date=6 November 2003|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-151468-5|page=321}}</ref>

The popular belief that an engagement ring was originally part of the [[bride price]] which represented purchase and ownership of the bride, has been called into question by contemporary scholarship.<ref name="Baker2001">{{cite book|last=Baker|first=Maureen|title=Families, Labour and Love|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DV9dTHVX9sAC&pg=PA34|access-date=7 November 2013|date=1 January 2001|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=978-0-7748-0849-1|page=34}}</ref><ref name="Hersch2010" />{{rp|42 note 105}}

In the second century BC, the Roman bride-to-be was given two rings, a gold one which she wore in public, and one made of iron which she wore at home while attending to household duties. At one time Roman citizens wore rings made of iron. In later years senators who served as ambassadors were given gold [[Seal (emblem)#The Western tradition|seal rings]] for official use when abroad. Later the privilege of wearing gold rings was extended to other public officials, then to the knights, later to all [[Social class in ancient Rome|freeborn]], and finally under [[Justinian]], to [[freedmen]]. For several centuries it was the custom for Romans to wear iron rings at home, gold rings in public. During this period a girl or woman might receive two engagement rings, one of iron and one of gold.<ref name="SmithWayte1890">{{cite book|editor=William Smith|others=William Wayte, George Eden Marindin|title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities|url=https://archive.org/details/adictionarygree00marigoog|access-date=8 November 2013|year=1890|publisher=J. Murray|page=[https://archive.org/details/adictionarygree00marigoog/page/n144 130]}}</ref><ref name="Lord1869">{{cite book|last=Lord|first=John|author-link=John Lord (historian)|title=The old Roman world: the grandeur and failure of its civilization|url=https://archive.org/details/oldromanworldgr00lordgoog|access-date=8 November 2013|year=1869|publisher=C. Scribner and company|pages=[https://archive.org/details/oldromanworldgr00lordgoog/page/n237 235]–6}}</ref>[[Image:Carolina-bespoke_custom_made-diamond_alexandrite_engagement_ring-Lizunova_Fine_Jewels-Sydney-jeweller_Chifley_Square.jpg|thumbnail|An engagement ring]]